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For Immediate Release: July 28, 2011Contact: njteapartycoalit ion@yahoo.com ; Visit us online at: www.njteapartycoalit ion.org

NJ Tea Party Coalition Urge NJ Attorney General to Reject Bank Settlement

NJ may be owed $87 mill ion f i l ing fees; $6.8 bil l ion transfer taxes; $3.6 bil l ion Quiet Tit le Costs

The New Jersey Tea Party Coalition met with senior members of the NJ Attorney General’s office, urging them not tojoin the proposed settlement with nation’s largest banks. The settle ment is being considered by most state AttorneysGeneral.Because the evidence for massive destruction of the chain of title in residential mortgages is so compelling and costly to remedy, the State must not rush headlong into a quick settlement with banks, lenders, originators, or MBS poolsponsors that provides these players immunity. The State instead needs to act to protect the property rights of itscitizens who are struggling to pay their mortgages, and whose title has been compromised through no fault of theirown. The State also needs to reclaim potentially substantial filing fees and transfer taxes that were evaded.

Published reports estimate New Jersey’s share of the $20 billion settlement to be in the $50 million range, which isminiscule compared to the damage wrought.

We urge New Jersey AG Dow to follow the example set by Massachusetts’s AG Martha Coakley and refuse any settlement until a forensic audit of mortgages in the State is conducted to obtain full extent of the economic damageto the State and home-owners.

The fraud is so deep and the scope is so wide that waivers for criminal and civil charges are unacceptable. We are calling for AG Dow, New Jersey’s Chief Law Enforcement Officer, to restore the rule of law and hold thebanking executives who are defrauding investors, home-owners and the state accountable.

John O’Brien, Registrar of Deeds for Southern Essex District Registry, had a forensic audit conducted by McDonnell Analytics to measure the number of unrecorded assignments. The results were startling. Three-quarters (75%) of theassignments were never recorded, breaking the chain of title – and depriving the county clerk of millions of dollars inlost fees.Bergen County’s housing market is mature and broadly similar to that of Essex County in Massachusetts, so we haveestimated the lost revenue and the cost to reassert clear title based on their forensic audit results.

We calculated the amounts owed based on the US Census data for total dwelling units (DUs), percent owneroccupied, and median values for both New Jersey and Bergen County.

We further applied the national average of 68% for owner-occupied homes mortgaged, the Southern Essex Co MAfigure of 75% missing assignments, and an assumed two assignments per mortgage missing (or not recorded) basedon the typical standard for securitization.

We also assumed that assignments were one page (average $36/each statewide, and $43/each for Bergen County). The transfer tax is calculated on the median value statewide and for Bergen, using the state’s formula, and the tax

owed depends on the assignments not recorded.New Jersey Bergen

DUs 3 ,526,453 351,463

owner occupied 2,366,250 238,292median value $356,800 $482,400

% mortgaged 68% 1,618,515 162,992% missing assignments 75% 1,213,886 122,244

no of assignments missing 2 2f i l ing fees owed $87,157,031 $10,512,963quiet t i t le cost $3,641,658,693 $366,731,256transfer tax $2,800 $4,006transfer tax owed 6,797,762,894 $979,416,940